Radoslav Nesterović
(born May 30, 1976) is Slovenian former professional basketball player who played Center. Netserovic was born to Serbian parents in Ljubljana, Socialist Republic of Slovenia, SFR Yugoslavia. He started playing basketball with the KD Slovan youth team. Later, he played with the junior club of Partizan Belgrade and made his debut during the 1992–93 season. editPAOK Thessaloniki Because of the Yugoslav wars, he moved to PAOK Thessaloniki of the Greek League. While playing there, he obtained a second citizenship (Greek) in order to avoid EU restrictions. In order to obtain Greek citizenship he had to administratively change his name in the eyes of Greek law. While in Greece and other EU countries, he thus competed as a domestic player under the name Radoslav Makris.2 editOlimpija Ljubljana Ahead of the 1995–96 season, he returned to his hometown to play for Union Olimpija. Competing in the Slovenian domestic league, his averages were 30 minutes, 17 points and 14 rebounds per game. The summer of 1996 off season brought another significant feat for Nesterović— while playing for Slovenia's youth national team he was named the MVP at the 1996 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. The next season, 1996–97, he was part of that legendary Olimpija team that reached the Euroleague Final Four in Rome, thanks in no small part to Nesterović's efforts. In that season, he played an average of 24 minutes, scoring 14 points, and grabbing 8 rebounds per game in the Euroleague. editVirtus Bologna The exposure on the biggest European stage led to a big time move for Nesterović to the Italian League power Virtus (Kinder) Bologna during the summer of 1997. In the first season with his new club, he scored an average of 9 points and grabbed an average of 12 rebounds per game in the Italian domestic league, but he was much more successful in the Euroleague, where he scored 11.2 points and grabbed 8.4 rebounds per game. He helped Virtus win the Euroleague title, playing alongside legendary players such as Predrag Danilović, Zoran Savić, and Antoine Rigaudeau. In the Euroleague final, Nesterović scored 16 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. editNBA editMinnesota Timberwolves Nesterović was a first-round draft pick (17th overall) of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1998 NBA Draft. He joined the Timberwolves just before the end of the 1998–99 season and played there through the 2002–03 season. Nesterović stayed in Minnesota for four full seasons because he played only the last two regular-season games, plus all of his team's games in the playoffs, in his first season. His best season with the Timberwolves was 2002–03, when he averaged 11.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game, earning himself a 6-year contract with the San Antonio Spurs in 2004. editSan Antonio Spurs In his first season with San Antonio, he scored 8.7 points per game and grabbed 7.7 rebounds per game. In his second season with the Spurs, 2004–05, he suffered an ankle injury, and was limited to 70 games. Nevertheless, he remained the starting center for the majority of the season, and, along with his colleague from the Slovenian national basketball team, Beno Udrih, he ultimately won an NBA title with the Spurs that year. Nesterović with the Toronto Raptors. editToronto Raptors On June 21, 2006, Nesterović was traded to the Toronto Raptors along with cash in exchange for Matt Bonner, Eric Williams and a second round pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.3 In his first season with the Raptors, he averaged 6.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks per game. On April 2, 2008, at 7:34 pm EST, Nesterović hit his first three-point shot ever in the regular season, with a pump fake, for a buzzer beater against the Atlanta Hawks, in Atlanta. editIndiana Pacers On July 9, 2008, Nesterović was traded along with the Raptors' T.J. Ford, Maceo Baston and the 17th pick in the draft (Roy Hibbert) to the Indiana Pacers, in exchange for Jermaine O'Neal and the 41st pick in the draft (Nathan Jawai).4 editReturn to the Toronto Raptors On July 30, 2009, Nesterović officially was signed by the Raptors, reportedly with the biannual exception of $1.9 million for one season.5 editReturn to Europe editOlympiacos Piraeus For the 2010-11 season Nesterović returned to Europe when he signed a two-year contract with the Greek League powerhouse Olympiacos Piraeus.6 editSlovenian national team Nesterović was the captain of the senior men's Slovenian national basketball team until his retirement from the national team in 2008. He helped his national team finish in 6th place at the EuroBasket 2005 in Belgrade, and to thus secure a place at the 2006 FIBA World Championship. At the 2005 EuroBasket 2005, he played an average of 21 minutes, where he scored an average of 16 points and grabbed an average of 7 rebounds per game. editNBA career statistics Legend GP Games played GS Games started MPG Minutes per game FG% Field-goal percentage 3P% 3-point field-goal percentage FT% Free-throw percentage RPG Rebounds per game APG Assists per game SPG Steals per game BPG Blocks per game PPG Points per game Bold Career high Correct as of 10 May 20107 editRegular season Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG 1998–99 Minnesota 2 0 15.0 .250 .000 1.000 4.0 .5 .0 .0 4.0 1999–00 Minnesota 82 55 21.0 .476 .000 .573 4.6 1.1 .3 1.0 5.7 2000–01 Minnesota 73 39 16.9 .461 .000 .523 3.9 .6 .3 .9 4.5 2001–02 Minnesota 82 82 27.0 .493 .000 .549 6.5 .9 .6 1.3 8.4 2002–03 Minnesota 77 77 30.4 .525 .000 .642 6.5 1.5 .5 1.5 11.2 2003–04 San Antonio 82 82 28.7 .469 .000 .474 7.7 1.4 .6 2.0 8.7 2004–05 San Antonio 70 70 25.5 .460 .000 .467 6.6 1.0 .4 1.7 5.9 2005–06 San Antonio 80 51 18.9 .515 .000 .600 3.9 .4 .3 1.1 4.5 2006–07 Toronto 80 73 21.0 .546 .000 .680 4.5 .9 .5 1.0 6.2 2007–08 Toronto 71 39 20.9 .550 .333 .755 4.8 1.2 .3 .7 7.8 2008–09 Indiana 70 19 17.3 .513 .000 .781 3.4 1.6 .4 .5 6.8 2009-10 Toronto 42 8 9.8 .544 .000 .200 2.1 .6 .2 .4 3.9 Career 811 595 22.2 .502 .077 .585 5.1 1.0 .4 1.2 6.8 editPlayoffs Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG 1998–99 Minnesota 3 0 9.7 .500 .000 .000 2.3 1.0 .0 .0 2.7 1999–00 Minnesota 4 4 31.5 .440 .000 .500 3.3 1.5 .8 1.8 6.3 2000–01 Minnesota 4 2 12.3 .385 .000 .000 3.0 .8 .2 .8 2.5 2001–02 Minnesota 3 3 30.7 .484 .000 .444 6.7 1.0 .3 .0 11.3 2002–03 Minnesota 6 6 28.2 .500 .000 .667 5.0 .7 .2 .7 7.0 2003–04 San Antonio 10 10 26.1 .433 .000 .167 5.5 1.0 .3 1.1 5.9 2004–05 San Antonio 15 0 7.6 .417 .000 .000 1.7 .1 .1 .3 .7 2005–06 San Antonio 9 1 12.7 .579 1.000 1.000 3.3 .1 .2 .6 2.8 2006–07 Toronto 5 4 14.2 .467 .000 1.000 4.6 .6 .0 .4 3.4 2007–08 Toronto 5 2 15.4 .500 .000 .500 2.6 .6 .2 .4 4.6 Career 64 32 17.2 .468 .500 .500 3.6 .6 .2 .6 4.0 Category:Born in 1976 Category:Slovenian basketball players Category:Foreign basketball players Category:National Basketball Association players Category:Centers Category:Toronto Raptors players Category:Indiana Pacers players Category:Minnesota Timberwolves players Category:San Antonio Spurs players Category:Players who won the NBA Championship Category:Retired